The present invention relates to determining properties of asphalt. It finds particular application in conjunction with determining a coefficient of thermal expansion, a master creep modulus, and a temperature shift function and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is also amenable to other applications.
The task of determining viscoelastic properties of materials (including asphalt binder and polymers) is routinely performed for product development and product performance evaluation. To have complete rheological spectrum over a wide range of temperatures and loading rates, many tests at different temperatures and loading rates are performed. Therefore, the number of required tests, the task of determining viscoelastic properties of materials is labor intensive and expensive. As a result, many tests for quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) are not completed. In some cases, such lack of QC/QA testing results in unsatisfactory performance of viscoelastic materials.
Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is a parameter used for determining thermal stress development within asphalt pavement. However, there is currently no easy to use reliable method for testing CTE. Even though a dilatometric method has been used to study CTE of asphalt binders, its complex test procedure prohibited a routine use of this method.
The present invention provides a new and improved method and apparatus which addresses the above-referenced problems.